Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform Reviews

The solution was installed across two branches for a financial institution. One location had a data center, and the other was a branch office. For SaaS applications, traffic broke out from EdgeConnect directly to the cloud. Applications using the data center were channeled through the MPLS link.

Aruba EdgeConnect has an inbuilt next-generation firewall, advanced routing capabilities, and one compression capacity. It offers advanced security features like DDoS protection and IDS/IPS. 

Additionally, it integrates perfectly with Aruba ClearPass, offering a robust security solution, covering network admin, access control, authentication, and authorization.

It is an SD-WAN device. It is an edge router replacement. It also can replace a SD-WAN optimization device, a firewall, IDS, and IPS components, so you can actually do four four things in one box.

My company got the tool mainly for the SD-WAN stuff. The tool is also useful for SSE, which makes it a SASE device, but we use it mostly for SD-WAN.

I like the fact that the tool offers ease of deployment. It is also intuitive and works the way it is supposed to work and upgrade. The tool gets incrementally better with each OS upgrade. The tool actually seems like it actually listens to the customers. The product doesn't force the customers to have SD-WAN. You have a lot of flexibility where you can do SD-WAN to fit in your environment the way you want it.

I use the solution for WAN connectivity. It ensures connectivity.

Many features are valuable for automation, connectivity, and throughput. In terms of connectivity, we will save some expenses. 

It's used for the SD-WAN solution, controlling all our branches. It orchestrates everything from one platform, managing routing, images, and overall system control. Through orchestration, we can handle link bandwidth and application routing.

The best feature is the single-controller architecture. All the EdgeConnect devices are connected and managed by a single controller. 

If we compare it with other vendors like Cisco and Versa, they have multiple controllers. For example, Cisco has vSmart, vBond, and vManage, three servers you have to manage to maintain the SD-WAN solution. 

But with Aruba, there is only one controller, called Orchestrator. So, you just deploy that one, and that's it.

So far, it's user-friendly, comprehensive, and not complicated.

And there's one more good feature I saw recently while working with the support team. That Feature belongs to traffic flow.  If you want to trace the traffic from one source to another, from source to destination, you want to track the traffic; you want to see the flow. It is very easy inside the Orchestrator. You just right-click on that and just the flow and it will show you how much latency you have and what are the exact parts for that destination if you are using the source. So everything is showing inside the one Orchestrator.

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform offers a centralized cloud system to manage routers. 

The tool is easy to configure due to the existing pre-configured templates. It is easy to manage compared to legacy systems, which takes time. We can complete a site within 30 minutes. The tool's best feature is outdoor onboarding. You need to bring the box to the site with the internet. It is a simple plug-and-play. The solution offers a zero-touch procedure. 

We use the solution for network management. It provides a management layer for 200 locations. We have EdgeConnect to control with parameters, etc.

The important feature is the insight page. This is in a part of the management website where we have all the statistics about the net condition with a perimeter in one place, giving me enough information about the current status of the network.

The feature that allows defining different profiles for the users is the most valuable feature of the solution.

At the moment, for us, it is a very good solution because it has all the features we need and it is not so expensive. Hence, it seems to be a good solution for us.

The support, which is the direct support from Aruba, has shortcomings and needs to be improved.

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is best suited for multiple environments that need better connectivity. You can optimize its bandwidth and give better connectivity in terms of packet losses. 

The tool's most valuable feature is bandwidth optimization.